What does "Araby" symbolize to the boy, and how is the conflict of the story resolved when he goes there?

The narrator
in "" conflates (combines) his religious passion with his emerging romantic and sexual
desires. Note that in the beginning of the story, he shows his interest in texts related to
religion and romance: The Abbot (about Mary, Queen of Scots), The
Devout Communicant (dealing specifically with religion), and The Memoirs of
Vidocq (the adventures of a criminal-turned-detective who inspired many writers).
Vidocq turns from a criminal into a policeman. The narrator in "Araby" similarly is in
a period of transition: from boy to man. He builds up this image of himself as a devout,
romantic, adventurous knight whose purpose is to be a knight to Mangan's sister. He is so
passionate about his devotion to her, it combines his romantic and physical desire with a kind
of spiritual devotion. Therefore, his quest to "Araby" becomes much more significant
than simply picking up a gift at a bazaar. For the narrator, it is as if Mangan's sister were a
princess and he is off to a foreign land on a quest for her (note "Arab" in
"Araby"); as if he's going to the Middle East to find and reclaim the Holy Grail
itself. Araby represents the destination of a quest. It is a foreign land to the narrator; it's
exotic and strange, being outside the parameters of his Dublin streets. 

In
the end, his aspirations of himself as knight errant and his dreams of Araby as some exotic
foreign land from which he will discover his princess's grail are all destroyed when he sees the
bazaar as nothing more than a profit-driven fair, run by indifferent people. He is not only
upset that this fantasy has been broken by his disappointment with Araby itself. He is also
upset with himself. He let himself get caught up in his own fantasy (about being this kind of
knight, about Araby as this otherworldly place, and about Mangan's sister), only to be let down
in the end. 

Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a
creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger. 

He doesn't buy anything for Mangan's sister. Instead, he leaves
dejected. The conflict is resolved when he realizes, in "anguish and anger," the
delusion that was his fantasy.